Obama co-existed, sometimes uneasily, with substitute blackness; picked and chose among instances of surplus blackness; and, toward the end of his presidency, after being forced into it by blood and renewed protests in the streets, came to a truce with subversive blackness. But for much of his presidency he preferred, and personified, symbolic blackness: His very success-embodied in the sight of him and his gifted and beautiful black family in the nation's most stellar public housing-was sufficient to signify black progress, many thought. He could make black folk proud by casually descending the stairs of Air Force One, or inviting black icons like Jay Z and Beyoncť to the White House. Black swag at its best. And something that white Americans who had voted Obama into office could cheer too, desperately hoping to be finally done with the tiring and unsolvable conundrum of race.

‚ÄúMy book [Not Tragic: Fredi Washington and the Improvisation of Radical Black Performance Traditions] looks at societal representations of the mixed-race character as ‚Äėinsane,‚Äô ‚Äėtragic‚Äô and ‚Äėtorn between two worlds,‚Äô‚ÄĚ [Nicole] Hodges Persley said. ‚ÄúBut if you dig deeper, that‚Äôs not necessarily the case. [Adrienne] Kennedy says it‚Äôs not necessarily the mixing of two races that produces psychosis but the predominant narrative of whiteness that people of color are forced to consume, but that they can never fulfill; they can never live up to it. She asks why blackness is portrayed as evil and not seen for its positive contributions to the world.‚ÄĚ

Comments Off on ‚ÄúMy book looks at societal representations of the mixed-race character as ‚Äėinsane,‚Äô ‚Äėtragic‚Äô and ‚Äėtorn between two worlds,‚Äô‚ÄĚ Hodges Persley said. ‚ÄúBut if you dig deeper, that‚Äôs not necessarily the case.‚ÄĚ

LAWRENCE ‚Äď More than one white politician has landed in hot water this year after old photographs of them dressed in blackface surfaced. Clearly, racial stereotypes are still a touchy subject. So is it OK for minorities to dress in whiteface? What if it‚Äôs meant to represent an inner conflict among people of mixed-race identity?

‚ÄúThis question implies that there is such a thing as reverse racism, and I don‚Äôt think we can even ask that without discussing the systemic inequality and racial hierarchies that result in internalized racism experienced by historically underrepresented groups,‚ÄĚ said Nicole Hodges Persley, University of Kansas associate professor of theatre.

For the past couple of years, Hodges Persley has been working on the first major biography of actress Fredi Washington (1903-1994), a woman of mixed racial background who fought against the racial stereotyping of her day while also working for black empowerment…